The Official Return of the Gentleman

My mother did a great job raising me. It’s for that reason, along with a host of others that make her such a special woman in my eyes. Her unadulterated awesomeness is what prompts me to write about her from time to time (read here), and it also makes me want to spend my days working hard to make her and my dad proud.

So when I stumbled across this comprehensive list of qualities that describe what it means to be a gentleman, I couldn’t help but feel lucky that I won the parent lottery. Not only did they raise a pair of gentlemen in me and my brother Darren; but after reading the list, I almost feel like it was written specifically about us.

Our reality is a far departure from how some dudes view being a gentleman. For some reason or another, there exist this societal subculture that deems it uncool or borderline soft to be a gentleman. Now, I don’t subscribe to those types of beliefs. And honestly, if I meet a woman who would prefer me to operate on terms less than how a gentleman would conduct himself, then I would rather not waste my time or hers.

That’s just the way I roll…

Am I confident in this modus operandi? Absolutely.

That confidence allows me to understand that I don’t have to be someone that I’m not.

I’m not going to call you a bitch, even while joking…
I’m not going to puff my chest or preen like a peacock to prove that I’m the man…
I’m not going to oversell who I am, who I know, and what I own to you…
And I’m not going to set aside what my parents taught me just to impress a woman…

Part of me sincerely believes that there is a gentleman in us all. It’s the side of us that makes us instinctively want to protect our female loved ones. Somewhere along the line though, that part of us was cast aside because word leaked out that “women like bad boys.”

Now look where it’s gotten us?

It’s time to get back to the gentleman’s agenda … and I’m perfectly okay with it starting with me.